IF YOU ONLY KNEW

IF YOU ONLY KNEW

John 4:7-19 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet

Has there ever been a time in your service to God, that things did not happen the way that you’ve planned them?

Have you ever had a time when you were so frustrated as to what was going on that you wanted to throw in the towel because everything seemed to be going in the opposite direction of what you intended?

As I have had this happen many times over, only to find out at the end of the day that the things that I was frustrated about, were exactly the things that needed to happen in God’s plan in order for things to turn out in the correct fashion to glorify God, and that what I perceived in my reality as worthlessness and failure, was actually progress and worthiness according to the will of God.

So the Question is, How do I stop spending so much time and energy on being frustrated about things that I really don’t need to be frustrated about?

One thing that helps me is when I realize that sometimes, the “what it is,” in my reality, is not the “what it should be,” in God’s reality, and when I know what God said it should be, then I begin to look at how this seemingly frustrating thing is actually pushing me closer to what God said should be the end result, and in seeing it from God’s point of view, I begin to see the positives in the situation, instead of being overwhelmed by the negatives.

When we look at this scripture and note the exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, we see that there is a difference between what she understands as reality and God's reality. There is a difference between what it is for her, as opposed to what it should be according to God.

As we look at the text we notice that what it is, is that Jesus was asking

her for something, when it should have been her asking Jesus for something.

What it is, is that she didn't even know the gift of God, when she should have been receiving the gift of God.

What it is, is that she didn't know who this Jesus really is, when she should be honoring and worshipping Him.

She thinks that He's just a man when she should have known that He is the Messiah. When we look at this scripture closer we begin to ask, “Why is it that she didn't ask for the water that Jesus offered her?” To the contrary, we see instead that Jesus is asking her for water , and we then begin to realize that sometimes according to God we do stuff backwards. We see that sometimes we do exactly the opposite of what God wants us to do when we lean on our own understanding. When we look at this scripture and see that Jesus is talking about living water and she is talking about liquid water, we then realize that she didn't know what type of water He had for her, do you understand what type of water that God has for you?

What it is, is that Here we are, with breath in our bodies, when we know that for some of the things that we've done in our lives, we should be dead.

When you step back and look over your life at some of the things that have happened in your life, you will find that at some point and time there was something that happened that should have taken you out, and if nothing has ever happened to you, then you need to know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, so we should be dead, anyway. But thanks be to God that what it is, isn't always, what it should be.

When we look at how she tried to play games with Him we find that she really didn't know who He was which further lets us know that when it comes to God, if you don't know the right person then you will be in the wrong position, and when your in the wrong position then you will receive the wrong Present, in other words, If you have the wrong giver then you will do the wrong gestures, and when you do the wrong gestures you will get the wrong gift. Yet in other words, if you don't correctly understand the Bible then you will have the wrong behavior and if you have the wrong behavior then you might be in the wrong body. Even yet in other words, you will ask amiss and miss your gift. When we don't know about the gift and the giver of the gift, who is Jesus, then the things that we ask of Jesus will be off target from the will of Jesus, or as the Bible says, amiss. Sometimes while we are so busy asking God to do things, we need to step back and thank God for what He has already done in our lives, thank Him for waking you up, for the use of your limbs, for being in your right mind, for a roof over your head, for clothes on your back, for food to eat, for air to breath, for allowing us to exist, just for being God all by Himself, thank Him for allowing you to serve in your calling. When what it is, is that you should have been dead, God said you should be preaching life. When what it is, is that you should have been in the dark, God said you should be teaching folk into the light. When what it is, is that you should be down, God said you should be lifting other people up. Leaders, let your what it is, be God's what it should be, and let your what it should be's, match God's what it is.

Be encouraged as you face tough times and let what God has birthed in you, work through you. Let what God said should be for your life, be your what it is. Let your steps be ordered by God, and walk in His love, His grace, and His power and be thankful to God, that what you think it should be, is not always what it really is, according to God.

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About AOCI

The AOCI exists as a fellowship of Spirit-filled Evangelical and Jewish Clergy for the purpose of: 1) Exalting God 2) Fellowshiping and 3) Divine Networking.

We do NOT advise, nor do we seek, to bring members out of their current denomination or ministerial association. We seek to have a platform to UNITE the Clergy of the world in ways that can benefit not only the Kingdom of God, but also the men and women who faithfully serve their communities, one another, and God.

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